Antibiotic Resistance Patterns in Uropathogens Isolated from Pregnant Women: A Tertiary Hospital Study

Urinary tract infections (UTIs) are some of the most usual causes of bacterial infections for pregnant women. They often result from bacteria, known as uropathogens, whose resistance to antibiotics is not constant.

In all, we collected 300 samples of midstream urine from pregnant women at the antenatal clinic because their symptoms were suggestive of a UTI. Samples were first cultured on cystine lactose electrolyte deficient (CLED) and MacConkey agar, and biochemical tests were used to identify uropathogens. Kirby-Bauer disk diffusion was used, according to CLSI standards, to determine which antibiotics were effective against the pathogen. Analysis of the data used descriptive statistics.

From a collection of 300 urine samples, significant growth from bacteria was seen in 114 cases (38%). Almost half of the uropathogenic bacteria (52.6%) found were Escherichia coli, followed by Klebsiella pneumoniae (21.1%), Enterococcus faecalis (13.2%), and a lesser prevalence of Proteus mirabilis (7.9%). Resistance was found in about three-quarters of isolates to ampicillin and co-trimoxazole, but most isolates were still sensitive to nitrofurantoin and fosfomycin. Resistance to different antibiotics was found in 47.3% of the isolates, more commonly in E. coli strains.

It was shown in the study that a large number of pregnant women with UTIs are infected by bacteria resistant to many commonly used drugs.